Tuesday, 30 April 2013

Future inclusion in the British tree - the Vickers A1E1 Independent

Well then - all this fuss about interwar heavy tanks as low tier premiums can't be complete without the British right? After all when you ask the T35 and the T28 "Who's your daddy?", the answer is simple - they both point at the Vickers A1E1 Independent.

The Independent was a series of 1, literally a land battleship that was supposed to be able to take and hold ground on its own. The plans were supposedly sold/stolen and once they reached the Soviet Union - the T35 and T28 were born. Needless to say - similarities are obvious, though the A1E1 is indeed the older, WW1 in mind design, and it shows.

So...the Independent(Yeah...they actually meant it with the name - I'm a strong independent Tank that needs no infantry to take that hill!)

At 34 tons and a 370 HP engine, with a top speed of 32 kmph - its identical in power output to the T35. Being 2 meters shorter should make it a biiiit more maneuverable.

Armour wise things are also roughly the same - 28mm being the thickest, though the front lacks a decent slope, while the T35 has at least some. Basically expect to dread encounters with Pz I Cs, not that any non french low tier tank doesn't....

The armament is a single 47mm gun. While its a 5 turret design, unlike the T35 it has only one cannon - rest are MG turrets. That means the Vickers can be readily implemented in the game without needing any major adjustments - only model, stats and price. The 3 Pounder gun (versions can be seen already ingame) limits it to tier 2 however - the MK I has barely 38 mm of penetration and the 3 pdr MK II - 43mm. In the gun department - the soviet designs beat the Vickers hands down.

So... - M1921 as tier 2/3, Vickers as tier 2, T35 as tier 3/4 (if multigun support is introduced tier 4 will be ok for it- I mean you get a derp gun and 2x 51mm penetrating guns that can also load APCR for 90mm) Any bets?